of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be thankful. w Rejoice, because your names are written in heaven, in the book of life. y Fear not little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. z For as many as are led by the spirit of God, they are the sons of God. For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God. And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ: if so be that we suffer with bim, that we may be also glorified together.For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. a If we suffer, we shall also reign with him. b For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory c (or a glory exceeding aionion to an excess.) Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God! therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be but we know that when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth Col. iii. 12-15. x Luke x. 20. y xii. 22. For if himself, even as he is pure. d Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world. e And now, little children, abide in him; that when he shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before him of his coming. f For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory. ¿ we believe that Jesus died, and rose again; even so them also that sleep in Jesus, will God bring with him. b For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the arch-angel, and with the trump of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we who are alive and remain, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air and so shall we ever be with the Lord. i And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. j Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun, in the kingdom of their Father. : Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence a fire shall devour before him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about him.He shall call to the heavens from above, and to the earth, that he may judge his people. Gather my saints together unto me: those that have d 1 John iii. 1, 2, 3. e 1 John iv. 17. f 1 John ii. 28. i 1 Thes. iv. 16, 17. Mat. xiii. 43. made a covenant with me by sacrifice. 7 But who may abide the day of his coming? And,. who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner's fire, and like fuller's soap and he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; & he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto Jehovah an offering in righteousness. m Every man's work shall be made manifest; for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is. If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man's work be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire. n For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God; and if it first begin at us, what shail the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God? And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear? o The angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just, and shall cast them into the furnace of fire there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. p And that servant who knew his Lord's will and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes: but he that knew not, and did commit things werthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. q But the souls of the righteous are in the hand of God, and there shall no torment touch them. /Psalm, 1. 3, 4, 5. m Mal. iii. 2, 3. 1 Pet. iv. 17, 18. p Matt. xiii. 49, 50. Р n 1 Cor. iii 13, 14, 15. q Luke, xii. 47, 48. In the sight of the unwise they seemed to die : and their departure is taken for misery, and their going from us to be utter destruction; but they are in peace. For though they be punished in the sight of men; yet is their hope full of immortality. And having been a little chastised, they shall be greatly rewarded: For God proved them, and found them worthy of himself. As gold in the furnace hath he tried them, and received them as a burnt offering. And in the time of their visitation they shall shine, and run to and fro like sparks among the stubble. They shall judge the nations and have dominion over the people, and their Lord shall reign forever. They that put their trust in him, shall understand the truth and such as be faithful in love, shall abide with him: for grate and mercy is to his saints, and he hath care for his elect. r Then shall the righteous man stand in great boldness before the face of such as have afflicted him, and made no account of his labors. When they see it, they shall be troubled with terrible fear, and shall be amazed at the strangeness of his salvation, so far beyond all that they looked for. And they repenting, and groaning for anguish of spirit, shall say within themselves, This was he whom we had sometimes in derision, and a proverb of reproach. We fools accounted his life madness; and his end to be without honor. How is he numbered among the children of God, and his lot is among the saints!s And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; Wisdom iii. 1- -9: s Wisdom v. 1-----5. and they that turn many to righteousness, as the stars forever and ever. t There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for one star differeth from another star in glory. So also is the resurrection of the dead. u v And as we have borne the image of the earth. ly, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly. For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the first born among many brethren. Moreover, whom he did predestinate, them he also called; and whom he called, them he also justified; and whom he justified, them he also glorified. w They that feared Jehovah spake often one to another, and Jehovah hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared Jehovah, and that thought upon his name. And they shall be mine, saith Jehovah of hosts, in that day when I make up my jew els; and I will spare them as a man spareth his own son that serveth him. x Let not your heart be troubled: Ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many mansions if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. y Verily I say unto you, That ye who have followed me in the regeneration, when the Son of man shall sit in I t Dan, xii. 3. u 1 Cor. xv, 41, 42. 1 Cor. xv. 49. w Rom. viii. 29, 30, x Mal iii. 16, 17. y John xiv. 1, 2, 3. |